Very short reviews of books

A roundup of very short reviews of books I recently read. Lincoln in the Bardo and Panorama are worth your attention.

Lincoln in the Bardo: This inventive, profound and humorous novel by George Saunders unfolds in unexpected ways and concerns the death of Abraham Lincoln’s young son, Willie. The audiobook features a cast of 166 narrators who portray the characters, living and dead, and I recommend it for the riveting performances. (5/5 stars.)

Zero Hour (Expeditionary Force Book #5): The adventure continues in this fifth installment of the Expeditionary Force series by Craig Alanson. This is the most entertaining of the last three books, but in the end it’s more of the same. It’s past time for Alanson to reveal some backstory about the artificial intelligence, Skippy, at the center of the books. (4/5 stars.)

Panorama: A life affirming, if heartbreaking, first novel that looks at the effects of a plane crash on survivors. (4/5 stars.) Read full review.

Turtles All the Way Down: The latest by John Greene feels contrived as the heroine, Aza, helps look for a missing billionaire while coping with a serious anxiety disorder. Featuring Greene’s exceedingly well spoken, widely read, clever and tragically brilliant characters.  (3/5 stars.)

The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore: Kim Fu’s novel alternates between the stories of five women who experience a traumatic event at camp while young girls. Unfortunately it reads as a disparate collection of unrelated stories, with the shared camp experience the only thing that connects the women. (3/5 stars.) Read full review.

New Rules: In comedian Bill Maher’s 2005 book of musing on politics and culture he comes of as irritable, partisan, pessimistic and sometimes funny. In other words, a lot like cable news. (2/5 stars.)